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Condemned home finally comes down |
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| By John Peters Editor One of two dilapidated homes that have been at the center of a minor controversy in Littleton has finally been torn down. The homes, on Mosby Avenue, have brought a number of complaints by town residents, most of which were directed at the Littleton board of commissioners. Because Littleton does not have its own building officials, however, the town was not able to do anything. "We are at the mercy of the county," explained Mayor Mason Hawfield. He explained that long ago the town gave up any ideas of employing its own building official, who would have authority to enforce building codes and condemn buildings. "It would be too expensive for us to keep someone on staff who could do that," he said. As is the case with many towns in North Carolina, Littleton relies on Halifax County officials for that. Spurred by the complaints and requests by town commissioners, Halifax building officials condemned the homes, and in January tried to meet with the building owners to ask them to tear down the structures. At that time, one of the owners, the one who tore down her house this week, expressed a willingness to work with the county. The other owners, according to County Attorney Bill McBlief, has not responded to several requests to meet. "We are in the process of pursuing that matter in the courts," he said Monday. "We’ve brought an action for abatement, which means simply we want to destroy the house … we want the owner to and if they won’t do it, the county will and then place a lien against the property" for the cost of the demolition. He said that could ultimately lead to a proceeding similar to a foreclosure, in which the county might have to take possession of the land to pay for the action. "The main thing is we want to get those houses down," he said. "One owner is cooperating with us … the other, we will have to wait and see." Mayor Hawfield was pleased to see progress on the matter Monday. "I’m delighted to see the house come down," he said. "It was an eyesore and it was a danger. A lot of folks are glad to see it’s coming down. We’ve got one down, I hope we can get the other one down." McBlief, who said he wanted to give a nod to town attorney Gilbert Chichester for a great deal of work he has done on the case, said he cannot predict when the second house might come down. "I don’t want to say too much, because it affects a case in court. I certainly couldn’t predict, but I would certain hope in six months (it will be gone)," he said. |
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| Aug 1, 2007 | ||||||
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